Author: Mariia Lepneva

On Tuesday, May 6, 2025, a captivating lecture titled “Everything You Didn’t Know You Ever Wanted to Know about Buddhist Manuscript Cultures in Greater Gandhāra” was delivered by GCBS’s Prof. Charles DiSimone as part of our Permanent Training in Buddhist Studies lecture series. The lecture explored the fascinating manuscript cultures of Greater Gandhāra, an area that once served as a thriving center of Buddhist activity and flourished well into the first millennium CE. This region, which spans modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and northern India, was a pivotal crossroads for the development of Buddhist thought and practices.

One of the key insights shared in the lecture was the use of birch bark, rather than paper, as the primary medium for Buddhist manuscripts in Gandhāra. Birch bark, a durable and flexible material, was ideal for preserving the intricate texts that would define the Buddhist literary heritage of the region.

The lecture shed light on the unique artistic elements found in these manuscripts, particularly the use of arsenic pigments and floral embellishments to highlight rubrics. It also emphasized the use of Bamiyan type I and Bamiyan type II scripts for recording Mahāyāna and Śrāvakayāna texts respectively.

Throughout the lecture, Prof. DiSimone emphasized the importance of several major manuscript discoveries that have enriched our understanding of Buddhist manuscript cultures. These include notable finds in locations such as Gilgit, Bamyan, and Mes Aynak. At the same time, he cautioned against using the cashes found there for making overall statements about the Buddhist tradition of the region, as they represent only a small portion of what originally circulated there. In the final part of the lecture, Prof. DeSimone introduced the recent excavations of in Mes Anyak and the work for digitalization of manusctipts his team carries out within the framework of his ERC project “Corpora in Greater Gandhāra. Tracing the development of Buddhist textuality and Gilgit/Bamiyan manuscript networks in the first millennium of the common era”.

As part of the Permanent Training in Buddhist Studies lecture series, Prof. Jin Kyoung Choi (Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies) delivered a talk titled “Buddhist Material Culture in East Asian Tea Tradition: The Way of Tea, the Art of Tea, and Tea Ceremony” on Tuesday, 29 April 2025, at the Faculty Library of Arts and Philosophy, Ghent University.

This rich and insightful lecture traced the historical and cultural evolution of the tea ceremony across East Asia, unfolding in five compelling chapters. Prof. Jin began at the spiritual heart of China’s tea culture: Jingshan Temple 径山寺 in Hangzhou, which is widely recognized as the birthplace of the formal tea ceremony. The lecture then took us across the sea to Japan, where Chinese tea culture took on a new life. During the Northern Song dynasty, powdered tea (Ch. mǒchá; J. macha 抹茶) was brought to Japan by monks and evolved into the world-renowned Japanese tea ceremony. Known as chadō 茶道—the Way of Tea—it became deeply embedded in Zen Buddhist practice and Japanese aesthetics. Turning back to the Sinosphere, the focus shifted to gongfucha 功夫茶, the high-skill brewing method that originated in the Chaozhou region of Guangdong. This practice was carried to Taiwan, where it took root and evolved. Oolong tea, in particular, became Taiwan’s most celebrated varietal.

An especially intriguing part of the lecture explored how modern Chinese and Taiwanese societies are negotiating the cultural legacies of tea. The term chadō is rarely used in contemporary China or Taiwan due to its strong association with Japanese tea tradition. Instead, Taiwan promotes chayi 茶艺(art of tea), emphasizing artistic expression and cultural refinement, while mainland China has been working to revive the ancient Song-style powdered tea ceremony as a distinct national heritage. The lecture also shed light on Korea’s distinct tea practices, charye and darye. 

After the Easter break, we resumed our Reading Group activities. For the remainder of the term, we will focus on Ming and Qing dynasties local gazetteers (方志) of the Chongqing area and the historical information they provide on the Buddhist temples of the city.

Our Joint Phd student Siqi Tang (Chongqing and Ghent Universities) presents the materials and will guide the reading. In the first meeting, she gave a very thorough introduction to the various types of gazetteers, how to find and use gazetteers databases, in addition to introducing us to this genre of historical records.

As part of the Permanent Training in Buddhist Studies lecture series, Prof. Osmund Bopeararchchi (University of Lens) delivered a talk titled “Greek gods in Gandhāran Buddhist art: How are images copied and reinterpreted” on Tuesday, 22 April 2025, at the Faculty Library of Arts and Philosophy, Ghent University.

Prof. Bopearachchi opened his lecture by outlining the historical context of the Gandhāra region, a unique cultural crossroads shaped by the Greek presence north of the Hindu Kush mountains following Alexander the Great’s conquests. He then explored how Greek motifs were incorporated into Gandhāran Buddhist art, demonstrating the influence through elements such as realistic facial expressions, Corinthian columns, Hellenistic furniture, clothing, and ornamentation. These were contrasted with artistic representations found in production centers south of the Hindu Kush, highlighting regional stylistic differences.

The lecture then turned to the presence of Greek deities in Gandhāran art. Among them was Tyche (Fortuna), the goddess of success, who often appeared as the genius loci—the protective spirit of a city. Another significant example was Heracles, who was reinterpreted as Vajrapāṇi, the protector of the Buddha, typically shown wielding a thunderbolt in place of his traditional club.

The talk concluded with a discussion on the Dionysian cult of viticulture and wine consumption. Prof. Bopearachchi shared his recent research identifying scenes of joyful wine-drinkers not merely as bacchic revelry, but as representations of gandharvas—celestial musicians and dancers from the demigod realm in Buddhist cosmology.

Siqi Tang is a visting PhD student sponsored by the China Scholarship Council (CSC) within the Department of Languages and Cultures at Ghent University. She holds a Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture from Chongqing University and is currently pursuing a PhD in Landscape Architecture at Chongqing University. Her research interests include Chinese urban history, Chinese landscape history, Chinese scenic heritage, and digital humanistic methods.

Her current research project “Research on the Influence of Buddhism on the Historical ‘City-Mountain’ Landscape in Southwest China“, supervised by Prof. Dr. Christoph Anderl, systematically investigates Buddhist cultural landscapes, urban monasteries, pagodas, and rock carvings—and their mechanisms in shaping historical urban forms with a focus on Southwest China.  By analyzing these elements, the research aims to uncover the socio-cultural roots of Buddhism’s localization, deepen our understanding of the relationship between traditional Chinese religions and urban development, and enhance interpretative frameworks for religious-cultural landscapes. The findings will hold significance for guiding the preservation of relevant historical heritage sites and advancing interdisciplinary discourse on religious geography and urban history.

Jing Liu is a visting PhD student within the Department of Languages and Cultures at Ghent University. She holds a Master’s degree from Shanghai University and is currently pursuing a PhD there. Her current research project “Bide 比德: A Study on the Premodern Chinese Approach to the Integration of Morality and Aesthetics–An Examination of the Interaction between Confucian and Buddhist Aesthetics“, supervised by Prof. Dr. Christoph Anderl, explores the Confucian tradition of bide and its theoretical manifestations in literature and art, with a particular focus on the interaction between Confucian and Buddhist aesthetics as a key case study. In the history of ancient Chinese thought, bide 比德 initially existed as a universal mode of thinking with anthropological significance, referring to the association of certain human behaviors or concepts with the characteristics of natural entities. In ancient times, bide was closely associated with Confucian moral thought. However, the literary and artistic concepts that emerged from it gradually exhibited characteristics that diverged from morality and could be identified as aesthetic phenomena. Accordingly, the project will explore how bide evolved into a tradition that integrates morality and aesthetics.